My investigative projects taught me to learn by doing, to gather my own facts and conduct my own interviews so I could draw my own conclusions when given conflicting information. Additionally, during our year-long partnership with the Ida B. Wells Society we attended monthly workshops taught by university faculty and professional reporters about sourcing, legal issues for high school journalists, utilizing public records and interview tips. These lessons were highly influential in my most recent investigative story about the new NC abortion law. I sourced a public record of NC SB-20 so I could learn directly from the bill itself, rather than biased accounts of its content.

My understanding of news literacy helps me to be a better editor. I recently advised a new journalism student on sourcing. She was covering teachers’ experiences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). After she completed her draft, I realized some of the quotes conflicted with the overall story. We had a really short time frame since we wanted to get the article out before Black History Month ended, so I spent my lunch break combing through her interviews to interpret quotes and ensure the story was accurate.

OPINION

Fights, scandal, allegiances: high school or city council?

From an alleged punch thrown to a campaign scandal to inflammatory speeches, it’s shocking that Durham’s City Council finds time to get anything done at all.

When the Hook was invited to send representatives to a local political forum, I jumped at the opportunity. I have been interested in politics for as long as I can remember and am the Board Secretary for the local chapter of the Progressive Caucus of the NC Democratic Party. By attending this event, I hoped to learn more about the candidates the Durham Progressive Democrats endorsed. But due to my personal involvement, I was worried about a conflict of interest. Under my advisor’s encouragement, I leaned into my personal feelings to write a well-informed opinion piece on local politics. To make sure I was fully informed, I watched recordings of city council meetings as is allowed under NC’s open-meeting laws. After this article was published, I received feedback from a local journalist. She suggested that I alter some of my phrasing, such as adding “alleged” in my lead, to ensure my piece was factually accurate. It was widely known that one council member punched another. However, no eyewitnesses had shared information about it on record, and the incident happened after the meeting in a room that was not open to the media. That meant the incident wasn't public record, according to NC's open meeting laws.